Courage Gathered, I Name – a poem which came to me as I thought about how in the past I have given up myself in the face of abuse.
I name you.
I call you out.
Once a feral focal point of my life.
The best of me:
Dominated.
Hidden.
Denied.
In doubt.
I ignored the truth of my pain.
For too long, this unnamed has squatted in my heart
and the cells of my violated places.
Forced upon me by those hims
limited by foggy minds cluttered by patriarchal privilege.
Banished to the safe road, I turned me off
and the honest beat of my heart nearly drowned.
Until tiny trickles of confidence built,
Until the rust of my unbroken heart flaked
revealing the dynamic truth of who I be.
Unpinned, free from oppressive thumbs,
I do not need control or guarantee,
only a willingness to speak.
I gather courage.
I name you.
I call you out.
f e a r
And, now
I release you.
Restored within this newly acknowledged truth,
I name me as courageous and daring.
I name me as willing to claim truth and to claim me.
All of me:
My smarts, my strength,
the healing places no longer engulfed,
standing, powerfully, free.
In my naming,
I am whole, I am beautiful.
Me reverberates,
filling the vase of women everywhere.
A lot of my writing just comes in the moment. I feel an urge rise to put pen to paper. No outline. Not much forethought. Out the words come, all on their own. For me its always an act of mindfulness. A mindful moment.
Courage Gathered, I Name is an example when those mindful moments come in the form of poetry. Here are are some others I have penned – Poetry
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